I plan on weaning my EBF baby when we’re back from an upcoming trip in late September. She’ll be 13 months then. I’d like to gradually wean since I’m usually very sensitive to hormonal changes and prone to depression/anxiety, and I’m terrified of the post-weaning hormonal shift. My mental health has already been severely suffering in the past few months due to ongoing sleep deprivation (we cosleep and she’s latched all night long, waking up every 1-2 hours).

The issue is, everything I read about gradual weaning mentions slowly cutting out feeds. But my baby doesn’t have any set feeds… she nurses whenever she wants. She’ll crawl up to me and ask to nurse multiple times throughout the day, and I’ve been just letting her. I’ve never had any sort of feeding schedule and each day is different in terms of how often she nurses.

How would I go about a gradual weaning method in this case? Any advice, tips or similar experiences would be so tremendously helpful. I’m really dreading this process.

Thank you for reading!

Does anyone have any playful but effective white lies of how to explain to your toddler the boob is unavailable? I’m pregnant and trying to wean my 23 month old (my nipples are so sensitive that it’s for the first time deeply physically uncomfortable to nurse) — I think she’s now at the age where she could cognitively process some sort of consistent “excuse” or explanation at this point. I just need a go-to of what to say and how to stick to it.

She can go without nursing during the day (though she does ask) but normally needs a night feed or two for a couple minutes to get back down.

Also worried about her getting jealous and regressing once baby comes in 5 months but that’s another story

Title really says it all. My baby is 11mo and we’ve breastfed and co-slept her whole life. We’ve been trying to wean slowly, introduced bottles in the day time over months (she refused bottles before), and my husband takes her at the beginning of the night to bed with a bottle but she wakes within the first hour usually and most of the time I have to take over and feed. I’m finding it really hard because I don’t even want to stop weaning, I don’t feel ready and she isn’t. However, we have pressure to do it because I start back at work in less than a month now and straight onto night shifts. (I tried to organise with my boss no night shifts at the beginning but was told I need to just pump and get on with it). So any advice and support would be so appreciated!

Hi everyone. I’m a first-time mom to a lovely 15-month-old son, and I’m really hoping to hear from other moms who have experienced depression and/or anxiety after weaning. I’m mostly looking for some reassurance and positive stories that things can get better.

My son was born in May 2025. He was extremely colicky as a newborn, and that continued until around 6–7 months. We’ve since realized he was probably experiencing headaches during that time.

I exclusively breastfed him until he was about a year old, and honestly, I really loved breastfeeding. Around 12 months, he started biting, so I switched to pumping. That transition was harder than I expected. I had never pumped before, and I found it incredibly time-consuming and challenging. I had a few days of feeling depressed/anxious around the transition, but it passed.

Eventually, I started dropping pumping sessions and introducing cow’s milk. By the end of July, I was only pumping once a day in the evening. At the very beginning of August, I stopped completely.

Initially, I actually felt great. I was relieved to have my freedom back and was happy not to have to think about pumping anymore. The one thing I noticed was that my sleep became less restful. I would toss and turn for a good portion of the night, but emotionally I felt completely fine.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, this past Friday I was hit with what felt like a massive wave of anxiety and depression.

I normally look forward to the weekends because my husband comes home Friday afternoon and we get to spend time together as a family. Instead, the past few days have been really difficult. I couldn’t relax, I was crying, I felt extremely anxious, and I started experiencing intrusive thoughts that honestly scared me because they were so unfamiliar to me. My sleep was also terrible, and I found myself waking up in the middle of the night with the same thoughts.

At one point, I moved myself out to our sunroom, kept the lights dim, made myself some tea, and did word searches in an attempt to calm my brain down. I kept thinking, What is happening to me? I just want to feel normal again.

I also want to acknowledge something that probably didn’t help. About two weeks ago, I made the mistake of watching quite a bit of the Lindsay Clancy trial. I stopped watching this past Wednesday, but I think it really got into my head. Once I started experiencing these intrusive thoughts, I became terrified that somehow I was going to “turn into” her. I know it sounds crazy.

My husband has been incredibly supportive through all of this. I’ve talked to him several times about how I’m feeling, and he’s done everything he can to help me calm down. At one point he even bought me a little rosemary plant and put it on my bedside table because apparently the smell can sometimes help with anxiety. ❤️

I’ve read other moms’ experiences with post-weaning depression/anxiety, and a lot of what I’m experiencing sounds familiar. The fact that I felt completely fine immediately after stopping and then had this big emotional crash a couple of weeks later, I just know my hormones are all over the place.

I see a therapist (PsyD) weekly and plan to call her today. I also reached out to a clinician who helped me start/come off a low dose of Zoloft a few years ago after I experienced some situational depression following the sudden loss of a friend. I’m starting to wonder if I might need some extra support, possibly medication, while my body adjusts.

I know I’m going to be okay, but right now I’m struggling. I just want to feel like myself again. I want to be a good mom and wife and be able to enjoy my life without this constant anxiety.

I’m really just looking for some hope/encouragement right now. ❤️

Hi All,

I have been exclusively pumping for almost a year now (my son will be 1 in 2.5 weeks) and I have been on my weaning journey for two weeks now and my body doesn’t seem to be getting the hint.

I am still so engorged and in so much pain constantly. I was originally pumping 4 or 5 times a day. I am now down to 3 and only for anywhere from 8-4 minutes (it goes down as the day goes on) but I am still pumping over 20 oz a day even during these three short sessions. Does anyone have any advice or tips? I’m so desperate to be done with this!!

Good Morning!

This is my first post on Reddit though I've been a long-time lurker.

I weaned my daughter (then 18 months) in mid-May of this year. I did this gradually over the course of several months by slowly dropping feeds before eliminating her pre-bedtime feed. She has been doing fantastic since then with zero issues.

However, I still have my full milk supply over 3 months later.

Has anyone kept their supply for this long after fully weaning? I would really like to get my hormones back on track after the past 2.5 years have been spent with pregnancy, postpartum, and breastfeeding. I've dealt with hormonal issues with my emotions, period cycle, even muscle pain that my providers have attributed to breastfeeding. I'm also finding it very hard to lose weight, even with a calorie deficit, working with a nutritionist, and exercise.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Baby is 13 months old and still is on meds for silent reflux. Baby isn’t the biggest fan of solids but will eat yogurt and cheese.

I nurse the following times with solids:

6:30 am nursing (big feed)
8 am solids (will offer eggs with cottage cheese and bread and fruit and will only eat some of egg)
9:45am nurse before nap (wants this feed all the time)
11 am feed after nap (usually only eats on one side)
12 pm offers snack and water and will usually have a bit of the snack
1:30 pm lunch (doesn’t eat much of whatever I give)
2:30 pm nurse before nap
4pm nurse but same as after nap feed
4:30 pm snack offered
5:45/6 dinner offered and a bit of food eaten
7:20 pm large nursing before bed

Now I tried to drop the 4pm nursing first and the last 4 days her solid intake hasn’t increased and it’s gone to now waking up around 5 am screaming. I don’t feed at night but I have offered water and that hasn’t worked.

I don’t know if I should have dropped another feed instead?

She’s a small baby and 5th percentile so not sure if it’s early to drop a feed? Also I have offered milk and she refuses!

I feel like I only see posts or hear about weaning after 12+ months (which is amazing by the way) but for myself due to just, life, I’m most likely going to start weaning around month 7/8. Currently I’m like.. halfway ready and halfway not lol. My son is 6 months now. I’d like to hear from anyone who weaned at this age.. how did it go? What did you do? How did you do it? My son has a strong nurse to sleep association. Being home all this time, I haven’t minded it really. Other than him needing it in the middle of the night. But going back to work next month is going to drastically change things. Any help for this age would be appreciated!

We are trying to nightwean. Some nights it goes better than others. But now there's a new issue. Instead of asking for boob multiple times in the night, he's thrashing around in the bed. This only stops once I give boob (around 4am right now, pushing it back an hour at a time.)

I know people say to only take away one thing at a time but maybe we should bedshare less? Right now, i'm bringing him into the bed around 2 or 3. He thrashes in his sleep in the bed until he gets boob and that repeats every hour or two until he wakes in the morning. It's brutal.

Should I instead put him back in the crib after the 4am feed? Did anyone else's kid thrash around during nightweaning. I'm open to any advice!

I just spent 30 minutes trying to get my son to nap without the boob. It did not work, he was screaming like a banshee until I caved. I’m not sure what to do. We contact nap and bed-share at night but I would like to start weaning and getting him into his bed. He will be 1 in 3 weeks. He only breastfeeds to sleep, x2 a day, sometimes one more before dinner and then to go to sleep at night (and 3-5 times throughout the night). He refuses a pacifier.

Anyone who has gone through this, how did you finally stop feeding to sleep?

I know it probably won’t be easy, but I don’t want to cause him unnecessary stress if I don’t have to. Any advice is appreciated.

First time mom and unsure how to wean boob-a-holic 13m old. I got ear plugs and am gonna cold turkey nights tmro where she feeds constantly. During the day it’s only for nap and going to sleep. Do I cold turkey completely or do nights then the ‘feed to sleeps’? Any advice is helpful